missouri farm bureau

In a night filled with anxiety and uncertainty, those that gathered for a watch party at the Missouri Farming Bureau Center in Jefferson City were relieved to see their hard work pay off as Missouri voters passed amendment one on Thursday night with an unofficial 50.13 percent of the vote.

Missouri Farming Bureau President Blake Hurst has been with the bureau for 35 years. He said he believes the Right to Farm amendment will protect Missouri farmers from restrictions that would limit the use of technology.

The agriculture industry is a cornerstone of the Midwest economy. In some states, it may even become a right.

In Missouri, the so-called “right to farm” is on the ballot in the form of an amendment to the state Constitution. And the controversial provision could be a model for Constitutional additions on other ag-heavy states.

Though the “right to farm” provision is focused on agriculture, it has pitted farmer against farmer with some worried that the results could change the face of farming in the Midwest.

Deadly arctic storms, freezing rains and thunderstorms, Missouri has seen it all so far this past spring. As we enter into warmer months, local farmers are hopeful for a good planting season.

Crops like wheat are planted a week before or after the first frost. Come late-March, early-May, rain is needed for moisture as the crops come out of dormancy.

“Moist soil helps to activate herbicides, if they’re being used, and that way they will better control the weeds that they’re trying to target,” said Kelly Smith, director of marketing commodities for the Missouri Farm Bureau.

The Missouri Farm Bureau’s annual Commodity Conference and Legislative Briefing brought over 200 Missouri farmers to Jefferson City Monday and Tuesday. Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst said the event is meant to help inform Missouri farmers of current issues in agriculture.

“Well we hope that they leave here both better prepared for the coming year to try and anticipate what the weather and markets might do, and also better informed about the policy issues that affect them, their farms and their local communities,” Hurst said.

In 2011, the Department of Conservation started reintroducing elk into the state of Missouri. The elk were brought in from Kentucky and released onto land designated as the Elk Relocation Zone. Part of this “zone” is conservation land in the Missouri Ozarks called Peck Ranch.

Right now, there’s a herd of more than a hundred elk roaming around in the Missouri Ozarks. But, you might not know it just by looking around. You see, they’re actually kind of hard to find in the woods.

Nearly a dozen Missouri agriculture groups sent a letter to Governor Jay Nixon this week calling for his support to oppose a dredging project in the Missouri River.

The project – near Arrow Rock, Missouri – was set up several years ago to create a shallow water habitat for several fish species including the pallid sturgeon – an endangered fish. Under the US Army Corps of Engineers plan, the soil excavated from the site would be deposited into the Missouri River.

One of Republican U-S Senate nominee Todd Akin’s key endorsements is now in jeopardy.

The Missouri Farm Bureau’s political action committee overwhelmingly endorsed Akin over Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill, but that was before he made his controversial statement that a woman’s body can prevent pregnancy in cases of, quote, “legitimate rape.” Chris Fennewald, who edits publications for the Missouri Farm Bureau, confirms that the Bureau’s county leaders are rethinking their endorsement of Akin.

The Bureau’s FARM-PAC met earlier this month and endorsed Akin after hearing presentations from both he and Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill. Chris Fennewald, an editor for Missouri Farm Bureau publications, says the Bureau’s county leaders were polled this week, and the majority said that their endorsement of Akin should be reconsidered.

Democratic Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and his Republican challenger Dave Spence spent Friday persuading members of the Missouri Farm Bureau to give them their endorsement. Nixon told them that he has sought relief for drought-plagued farmers, hawked Missouri farm products around the world, and stood up to his own party’s president over how much work kids can do on family farms.

In late May, thieves stole thirteen cows from a Walnut Grove, Missouri farm. Rural Greene County in southwest Missouri has reported at least four cattle rustling cases with more than 100 missing cows this year. Kelly Smith is marketing and commodities director of the Missouri Farm Bureau. She says cattle rustling is a problem that has recently resurfaced: "It kind of peaked itself out probably in 2008 and 9, went away and has come back again. Where we see cattle rustling take place, typically is Southwest Missouri, where we see it happen a lot.”